STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — A federal mediator has called striking Strongsville teachers and the district back to the table on Wednesday.

That follows a call this afternoon from the president of the union representing teachers for binding interest arbitration to immediately settle the strike that is now in its fifth week.

That proposal was later rejected by the school board.

Tracy Linscott, president of the Strongsville Education Association, confirmed that the mediator has scheduled a meeting Wednesday morning. It will be the first since last week when a marathon session ended with no progress.

Linscott said Tuesday afternoon that by asking for binding interest arbitration, any issues not settled during negotiations with the district would wind up in an arbitrator’s hands. She said that if the district acceped the arbitration proposal, the strike would end immediately and teachers would return to the classrooms.

School board President David Frazee issued a news release late Tuesday saying that the board would not agree to binding arbitration.

“We believe we have a responsibility to our community and voters to stay the course,” said Frazee. “In binding arbitration, we would be delegating to an out of town third party the authority to spend Strongsville taxpayer dollars and concede management rights, which our board thinks is not appropriate and is not agreeable to us.”

He said the district has “a last best offer on the table.”

At least 1,000 people turned out for a rally on Strongsville’s square attended by members of other unions.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Avon Democrat, called on Frazee to kick-start the stalled negotiations.

“Most importantly, students are not well-served when both sides are not sitting at the bargaining table,“ Brown said.

“Strongsville students deserve a settlement – now. But a settlement can’t be reached if the two parties aren’t talking. That’s why I joined teachers today – who told me how they want to be back in the classroom – and why I will keep in contact with the school board,” Brown said.

Teachers have been on strike since March 4.

Linscott said that the board agreed to binding interest arbitration in 2009 and 2010 but the two sides reached accord in both cases without going before an arbitrator.

Harriet Applegate, executive secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor, attended the rally and said unionized teachers from dozens of school districts throughout the region were there.

The teachers union late last week estimated that the district had spent $1.8 million during the strike, mainly on substitute teachers and a security firm.

Debbie Herrmann, Strongsville schools’ treasurer, said in an email Tuesday that, “the district will not be calculating the overall cost of the strike until it is over. The costs are too fluid to make any cost saving declarations now that may not be accurate at the end of the work stoppage.”

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